REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS

It is interesting how political parties change over time. Take the Republicans and Democrats, who, since the former's founding in 1854, have (with only minor changes from time to time) provided the 2-party political system in the United States.

In the mid-1850's the Democrats were the biggest party overall, and they dominated the South. As such, they were either actively pro-slavery or tolerant of it. They were also against protectionist tariffs on trade, since the core of the Southern economy was cotton, much of which was exported, whereas tariffs were generally placed on manufactured goods, many of which the South had to import, using their cotton earnings. The Republicans, on the other hand, gathered up the remnants of former parties such as the Whigs, in a shared dislike of slavery, a dislike which developed into Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War, and a constitutional amendment prohibiting slavery in its immediate aftermath. They were an exclusively Northern party to start with, and they supported protectionist tariffs, seeing them as a boost to manufacturing industry, of which the bulk was in the North.

Fast forward to 2010. Very few Afro-Americans now vote for the party of Lincoln, with 90%+ supporting the Democrats, as exemplified by President Barack Obama. Today it is the Republicans who are more likely to be free traders, and the Democrats to be supporters of tariffs, and other forms of protectionism. And in terms of geography, it is the Republicans who dominate the South, while the Democrats are strongest in Northern areas such as New England.

In short, although the parties have the same names as 150 years ago, they have been turned upside down.

Walter Blotscher